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Avila not concerned with early slump

DETROIT -- Having tallied only six hits in his past 41 at-bats and having his batting average drop from .389 to .220 entering Tuesday, Alex Avila is in a bit of an early-season slump. However, the All-Star catcher is not the least bit concerned.

"It's kind of pointless to look at average or numbers at this point in the season," said Avila, who referenced his April stats -- other than batting average and RBIs -- being about the same as last year. "It's not something you concern yourself about right now. ... If I get three hits today, my average will be like .280-something. So it's kind of pointless to look at it that way."

Avila's not far off and said he won't overreact by approaching games differently. The only difference Tuesday was that when he finished with his usual pregame hitting session in the batting cages, he came back to his new locker, which used to belong to Brandon Inge, and prepared to catch Rick Porcello for the first time.

Avila said he's putting together "quality at-bats" and that's the best thing a hitter can do.

"I've been seeing a lot of pitches in pretty much all of my at-bats and having good at-bats, and sometimes the results aren't there, which is something you can't really control," Avila said.

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ROIT -- Having tallied only six hits in his past 41 at-bats and having his batting average drop from .389 to .220 entering Tuesday, Alex Avila is in a bit of an early-season slump. However, the All-Star catcher is not the least bit concerned.

"It's kind of pointless to look at average or numbers at this point in the season," said Avila, who referenced his April stats -- other than batting average and RBIs -- being about the same as last year. "It's not something you concern yourself about right now. ... If I get three hits today, my average will be like .280-something. So it's kind of pointless to look at it that way."

Avila's not far off and said he won't overreact by approaching games differently. The only difference Tuesday was that when he finished with his usual pregame hitting session in the batting cages, he came back to his new locker, which used to belong to Brandon Inge, and prepared to catch Rick Porcello for the first time.

Avila said he's putting together "quality at-bats" and that's the best thing a hitter can do.

"I've been seeing a lot of pitches in pretty much all of my at-bats and having good at-bats, and sometimes the results aren't there, which is something you can't really control," Avila said.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.